Charli XCX

The electro-pop upstart on surviving a zombie apocalypse, picking her nose, dancing with Robyn, and the similarities between watching Coldplay and E.T.

Guest List features some of our favorite artists filling us in on some of their favorite things, along with other random bits. For this edition, we spoke with UK goth-pop troublemaker Charli XCX, whose debut album is due out in April.

Last Great Film I Saw

Woody Allen: A Documentary. It was completely hilarious, and so romantic. He is basically my dream man, and his films are perfect. I know his romantic history is messy but I don't mind. I like funny guys-- and old guys, too. Watching it was like watching the best porno.

Favorite TV Show

The Walking Dead. If I woke up tomorrow and there was a zombie apocalypse, me and my boyfriend would ride it out in our flat for a month. We've got the best door for a zombie apocalypse-- it's got four metal bolts on it and it's really thick and wooden. We'd fill up the bathtub, fill up every container with water, and keep stirring it so it wouldn't go stagnant. We live in a block with only six other people, so we'd go in and check if they were zombies, and if they were, we'd kill them and use their supplies. Then, we'd plan a trip to the countryside to see if we could rescue some of our family. We've thought a lot about this.

Best Thing I've Done in the Past Year

The Parklife tour in Australia. I had the most epic dance-off with Robyn on the last night of the tour. She has serious moves. She's like a robot, she won't stop dancing. I was wearing this black leather mesh combo, absolutely sweating, and she was just bouncing around like she was five years old. I'm a lot younger than her and I was on the floor dying-- she was backflipping and booty-shaking on the chairs. I was like, "Whoa girl."

Worst Habit

Picking my nose. I do it all the time, I don't even hide it. All my friends know that I do it. I actually have loads of really disgusting habits. I'm fascinated by poo, but not in a way where I poke at it and touch it-- that's weird. But I openly talk about poo. I find it really interesting that everyone gets so freaked out by it. To me it's just like, whatever, you just did a poo, it's fine. You don't have to lie. Everyone knows you did a poo because you were gone for five minutes. That habit makes everyone feel a bit awkward, so I save it for specific situations.

Last Great Concert I Saw

Coldplay. Everything about them is just so epic and amazing. I was on tour with them, so I actually got to see them five or six times. They have one of the best live shows I've ever seen. Obviously, the songs are all amazing, hit after hit; the crowd looked like they were watching the end of E.T., just crying with happiness. I know people think Coldplay is uncool. My boyfriend was not a fan, but he came to see their tour with me, and he realized that he really was a bit of a Coldplay fan all along, because he knew all the words to all of their songs.

My Dream Merch Table Item

My own personalized My Little Pony figurines. I used to go to art school, and I'd draw My Little Ponies being sexually violated or riding sticks of dynamite. Blood Diamonds looked at my drawings and told me that they were really crap. He was like, "But I'm being so honest-- you should be thankful I'm your friend!" I was like, "You should just leave me alone right now." I got so offended, because I think they're amazing-- even though nobody in my art school did. I actually gave my lucky My Little Pony to Chris Martin when we finished touring together, which I regret. I really miss her.

Favorite Cereal

Cookie Crisp. It's basically cookies in milk-- really bad for you. It gives me stomach pain when I eat too much of it.

My black glittery Buffalo sneakers. I have been living in them everyday-- they make me feel like I could be the sixth member of the Spice Girls, which is cool.

Favorite Venue

KOKO in London. I played my first show there when I had just turned 16. My back is like a fifty year-old's back-- I've got spinal issues-- so two hours before that show, I couldn't walk. I drank two bottles of red wine, which numbed the pain in my back, and I did the show completely wrecked. It was amazing. I had to spend the whole next day in bed.

Egypt was hilarious. I thought I was going to have my life changed forever, but I ended up in a really crappy tourist resort. I booked myself a camel ride across the desert, which basically turned out to be me being led around a parking lot covered in sand six times by a man in a leather jacket chatting on his iPhone. It was so crap that it was actually amazing.

Favorite Music Video

Christina Aguilera's "Dirrty". I absolutely love [director] David LaChapelle's work, I would love to do a video with him. It'd be a party in the desert, like a cross between Christina's "Can't Hold Us Down" and Madonna's "Frozen". I would have green hair, there'd be a thunderstorm in the desert, and then this dude pulls up in an old school black Volkswagen Beetle.

Dream Date

I've never really been on a date before, so I think something stereotypical would be really nice. Maybe ice cream at a fairground, and then we'd go on a roller coaster and get our fortune read by Zoltar and collect the card as a memory. That would be really cute.

Dream Tattoo

I'm not good at making permanent decisions; I'd probably get a glittery unicorn on my ass so I didn't have to see it all the time.

When I was in Los Angeles, I went to El Compadres, and it was the best Mexican restaurant I have ever been to. They have a Mexican quartet that plays there every night, and all the musicians look like they should be characters from a David Lynch film.

Favorite New Artist

Brooke Candy. She's totally badass. Some people underestimate her, which upsets me. When I put my song out with her, I was disappointed when people were like, "Oh yeah, the comical Brooke Candy." Just because she was a stripper and has killer braids doesn't mean that she can't be taken seriously. She's going to go so far in the industry, because she's super talented and so nice. And she's got a great ass. I wish my bum was that toned.